Kejriwal visits survivor, says statehood must to curb such crimes

NEW DELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal raised the statehood issue again on Thursday after visiting AIIMS to meet the 13-year-old rape survivor, who is battling for life. He said statehood would ensure better policing in the National Capital.

The girl, who was left for dead on the railway tracks in southeast Delhi, has got multiple injuries. “Such crimes are cropping up repeatedly. It once again highlights why the elected government should be able to restore the law and order in the Capital. It makes it easier for the enforcement agencies to work in close co-ordination with people,” Kejriwal told reporters.

Kejriwal’s comments came a week after his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government unveiled a draft bill seeking full statehood for Delhi and requesting the BJP and Congress to back the move.

The National Capital is governed under a complex pattern with key departments such as law and order under the lieutenant general who reports to the Union home ministry.

Kejriwal, who had made statehood one of his major poll planks, has repeatedly demanded control over the Delhi Police. He also accuses the BJP-led Centre of using the lieutenant general to play vendetta politics against his government.

Speaking to reporters after his interaction with the survivor’s family on Thursday, Kejriwal also demanded a joint working mechanism with the Centre within the existing system to check such crimes.

SONIA VISITS AIIMS

Cong ress president Sonia Gandhi met the 13-year-old differently abled girl who is undergoing treatment at AIIMS here on Thursday. She was brutally raped and dumped near a railway track last week.

Sources said Gandhi reached the hospital around noon and met the victim.